Agreed. I have a '16 STI, and while I would like to change a few things in the interior, I bought the car knowing that at the end of the day, it's a hopped up Impreza. The GTI and Golf R are much better in terms of interior, but they sacrifice elsewhere.

Chris Harris noted that it just understeers like mad and has a hard time keeping the rear-end in shape when driven the way a pro driver can drive it on a closed course (Rory Reid seemed to love it). It looks to me that the RS is going to be best left to street duty unless modifications are made at which point the extra cost seems kind of pointless. Still, it looks hella fun on a back road.

Thought this from thedrive was interesting

I haven't driven enough really good cars or race cars to say something similar to this about any car.

He did, yet other guys like him love them. Who knows.

Mine certainly won't be shielded from track use. Of course, the TG track is a terrible setup which likely doesn't help...

So, I just had my first little taste of the RS...

The background:

The lease on my BRZ is up in mid-August. As much fun as it has been, it is time for something different. Something with a lot better torque to weight ratio. I've been daydreaming about a used Cayman S for a long time. But then I thought I would need something a bit more winter practical, even if we already have an AWD wagon as the wifemobile. For a while, I was thinking of an STI or Golf R. I drove the WRX and STI last year and a Golf R earlier this year. They were OK, but didn't really rock my world. Then the RS launch was all over the internet, but it appeared that the first year's allocations would all be pre-orders so I wouldn't be able to get one before the BRZ went back.

I casually mentioned to my wife that getting a motorcycle again might be fun. She surprised me by saying I should replace the BRZ with a practical AWD car for the winter and then next spring I should get something fun for the summer, like a Cayman. (I'm still not sure who outsmarted who there. She knows me too well). So, I ended up getting us a newish winter 'beater' and started looking at used Caymans again. Most of our driving is around town and Southern Ontario doesn't have a lot of great driver's roads, so I started second guessing myself. Maybe it would make more sense to get something that would be more fun zipping around in traffic - something the BRZ was actually pretty good at.

So, we're on vacation this week and I was looking for a way to kill some time this morning while waiting for the 'beater' to get Krowned (better it should drip oil all over the gravel drive at the cottage than the interlocking brick at home), so I checked the local Ford dealer's web inventory to see if by chance they had a FiST. Instead, it showed they had an RS.

We dropped by and sure enough it was there but was already sold. Turns out that the junior sales guy I was talking to knows my brother. He took me out back to show me the car and let me sit in it. It's black and looks very purposeful, though I'd have preferred the grey. It has the Cup 2 tires on the black rims. My preference would have been the MPSS, but from the Ford Canada website it looks like they are all coming with the Cup 2 tires now. In fact there don't appear to be any options other than colour.

The Recaros are really comfortable - way better than the BRZ seats - and the driving position is just about perfect for me. I can even see the gauges when the steering wheel is properly adjusted, which isn't true of most cars I've tried, including the BRZ. Then the kid handed me the key fob and said "no harm in starting it up". We chatted a bit more, and then he hopped in the passenger seat and asked if I wanted to drive it around the lot. I briefly considered pressing the drive mode button a couple of times to put it in "drift" but decided not to in consideration for the kid's job. The clutch action is very light. I couldn't really judge the steering feel at that speed but it did feel pretty good.

The more senior sales guy I talked to claimed they would be able to get me one in 4-6 weeks. The junior guy also thought I could get Employee Pricing on it. Tempting.

So, used Cayman S or Focus RS? Either one is more than practical enough for us as a summer, around town, daily driver/weekend car. The Focus is more comfortable for me. I find the Cayman borderline too small, given my long legs. The interior of the Cayman is nicer, but not by that much unless it has the full leather package. The Cayman feels great on the road, though you still really have to wind it out to get the best out of it. I imagine the RS would feel a bit more artificial with all the torque vectoring, but I couldn't tell at parking lot speeds. The RS will have some turbo lag, which I hate in traffic, but then the Cayman would also have to be downshifted to make sudden progress. The Focus feels special and is likely to be a collectable, but the Cayman feels pretty special too and the 6 cyl versions will be increasingly sought after in the future. Decisions, decisions.

TLDR - I drove a Focus RS around the dealership parking lot and it was pretty nice. :party0030:

Glad you got the experience...

But if I had been the guy/girl who bought that car, and found out that someone had been allowed in it, let alone drive it just around the lot after I had already paid for it, I would have demanded that "kid's" head on a silver platter. :mad0260:

Ya, I had the same thought. But the little devil on my shoulder said "do it"!

PS, I'll have to call the kid and tell him to let me know when someone orders a GT...

:lol: Call me up too, I'll swing by. We can tag-team, whats the worst that can happen?

Good luck with that employee pricing.. no plan programs apply to any of the top classification FP vehicle, which includes the RS, GT350, GT and Raptor.

A lot of people wish that weren't the case, but at this point at lesat, it is. With a 2 year run, I doubt it'll change in 2017.

I also have switched back and forth myself.. but then I made a massive mistake. I drove a GT4. There's no way in hell I'd buy a Cayman S anymore.

So it's Focus RS for me.

No GT4 for you?

I can't justify the cost. I can almost justify the price of the GT350 though but I'm waiting to see how the RS is.

I can sell it with barely any loss (besides taxes) so fairly low risk to wait, drive it for 6-12 months and then re-evaluate. (assuming current used market holds even remotely to what it is, given the recent too much demand and not enough supply cancellations that seems likely).

My Wife has a fully loaded 2016 Focus ST. Hers comes with real CF trim. The RS doesn't which seems really strange to me.


The interior is basically the exact same on both cars. The RS has better/race-ier Recaros. The top trim ST has a bunch of real CF pieces everywhere (including a CF shift knob). No difference otherwise, from what I can see.


In my opinion, the Recaro seats in the ST are super nice - nearly as nice as the RS Recaros. To the point where I would say the ST has a nicer interior than the RS due to the CF.


The RS interior is a bit of a let down. But maybe the CF is an available option for the RS. Not sure.


All in all though. I am pretty dammed impressed with the interior of my Wife's ST.

IMO the Gulf R's interior isn't nearly as nice as the Focus. (I have sat in both)

I own an ST, and I've driven the GTI for an extended period of time, and I can assure you the VW interior is much better than the Focus.